It’s been several weeks after the 13th Tour of the Fireflies. The Holy Week has caught up with me and tremendous amount of work after the blessed holidays came up. It is only now that I had accessed my blog and write about the said tour.

The day before the tour, there was a special last day registration at Tiendesitas, Pasig manned by TOF’s organizers. A lot were dismayed including myself for the mere fact that L, XL, XXL sizes of the official jersey has ran out. All left was sizes S, XS. The organizers didn’t anticipate that there were a lot of riders using size L and up jerseys. The number of jerseys that they had printed came up short. So sooooo short. C’mon! The organizers of the event should’ve anticipated the jersey sizes most cyclists in the Metro use. Oh well. At this point, I couldn’t do anything but join the tour without the official jersey. What the heck! It’s just a jersey anyways.

After dinner that night, I did a routine check (which I always do during the night before my ride the next day) of the bike. Everything was a-okay. The bike was ready for the big event. Cycling accessories and apparel was also in place. Let’s get it on.

April 17, 2011. Ahhhh yes!!!! The buzzin’ sound of the cellphone alarms sounded sooooo sweet. It was time for me to get up and prepare for the ride. And so I got up, prepped up and ate a “suman” from Antipolo and topped it with Nutella! Ummmm! ummm! that gave me an early morning sugar rush to start up my senses. (Not to mention a good ‘ol brewed coffee to go along with it.) Everything’s all set and it was time for me to meet up with my ride buddies.

I pedaled my way to Blue Wave, Marikina where two of my buddies were waiting for me. They haven’t stayed there for quite sometime when I arrived. They just came in a few minutes before I came. Blue Wave is just around 3kms. away from my place.

From Blue Wave, we headed on to Tiendesitas. On our way, we were able to see Marikina City government’s contingent to the tour. They didn’t have mountain bikes nor had flashy bikes. Bikes were pretty much basic just like the ones you see during the Japanese World War era.

The three of us passed by SM City Markina flyover on the way to Libis. At the corner of Ortigas Ave., and E. Rodriguez, Libis, QC., there were already members of the Pasig City traffic management office letting bikers through the intersection. The excitement started to build up as I saw cyclists basically from all walks of life converge into Tiendesitas. We positioned ourselves and waited not so very long before the event officially started. While waiting for the event, my buddy Ryan and I put on our arm sleeves to protect us from the sun. Indeed, the sun was starting to shine and make its presence felt.

7.30am. The tour began. It has officially started. The atmosphere was ecstatic! It was very very festive. It was the first time I saw around ten thousand cyclists pedaling in support of the once-a-year event. Ortigas Ave., going to Greenhills was literally filled with cyclists. Men, women, and children pedaling one way or the other. Trying to savor the moment when only bikes are allowed on this part of Ortigas Ave.

Passed by Greenhills shopping center. Still, this side of the Ortigas Ave. was closed to cyclists. Traffic was halted to give way. Whoa! What a feeling!!!! Pedaling continued until we reached New Manila, Quezon City and then headed off to E. Rodriguez Ave., QC.

Welcome Rotonda-Espana Blvd.,-Quiapo-Roxas Blvd.-Cultural Center of The Philippines compound. It was a good 21kms from Tiendesitas. One group that caught my attention was the Power Rangers. A group of five cyclists dressed up as the crime fighting quintet, Power Rangers. Boy oh boy! the costumes were great! Even the helmets were replicated. It was fantastic and….it was hot!!!! Luckily, none of them collapsed because of the heat. Those constumes weren’t really cool nor it had a cooling system.

It was a different feeling all together. Riding Espana boulevard, passing by the Quiapo church vicinity, crossing Ayala Bridge, passing through Lagusnilad, Manila City Hall, Luneta, Roxas boulevard, and finally CCP. It was heaven on earth for the 15,000 cyclists who joined the event. The CCP was a bike mecca even for a short while. Riding those busy areas on our bikes with no motorists beside us was just awesome. It was a time of the year when the bicycle was the king of the road. Looking forward for next year’s Tour of the Fireflies. Here are a few photos I took during the ride…..

The 2011 Tour of the Fireflies dubbed as Bike Revolution 2011 will be on April 17, 2011. The yearly bike event is much awaited by cyclists and cycling enthusiasts alike. Yours truly will be joining the said event together with my fellow mountain bike riders from Marist (’92 MTB CREW).

To know more about the said the event, you may visit the Firefly brigade’s official website.

Like most of the cyclists around the metro, I’m looking forward to this date. I’ll write more about this after the said event. I’m pretty sure this’ll be one heck of a ride. Rock n’ Roll no doubt!!!!!!!